Wait, Zephiel's the bad guy? Let's Play Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals!

Clarine heals up the party to help prepare for the coming assault.



The nomads gravitate towards Alan, bizarrely enough. Horse-envy, I presume?



Not that I mind, since it gives Ellen the chance to generate the Exp she needs for this profoundly mediocre level up.



Honestly, I'm running out of things to say here - you can only say "so-and-so kills a bandit" so many ways, after all.



A typical Lugh level up for you - Speed and nothing else. He's still got a far ways to fall yet, thankfully.



Kill, kill, kill some bandits...

Back at the start, Marcus is luring a few of the more aggressive bandits up north, where they'll be run through by a waiting Dieck.



Alan visits the village to the north and picks up Gant's Lance. This weapon, as well as two others we'll find later on, belongs to a character from a Fire Emblem adaptation of the game called Hasha no Tsurugi, and are fairly unique to a degree. I don't know too much about the series itself to tell you about the titular character, Gant, but if you want to check it out for yourself serenesforest.net has scanlations of the first seven volumes that you can take a look at.



Lance shish-kabobs another bandit here...



Just checking the nomad's range to see if Thany can sneak in a kill (she can).



She runs afoul of a nearby fighter, though.



Merlinus, if you've been wondering, has spent pretty much the entire battle phalanxed in here by the rejected + Dieck, keeping him protected on all sides.



Alan finishes off yet another bandit and raises his weapon rank.



Ho-hum.



The shop here contains fire tomes and heal staves, presumably in case Lugh and the healers run short on their supply. I grab a few heal staves and send them off to Merlinus.



Chad dodges a mercenary's strike here.

Chad takes a hit, but manages to eke out a level up from it. It's not that good, though.



The bandits by the gate start attacking Dieck. It's almost comedic how outmatched they are by him.



Cutting it a little close with Chad here. Clarine heals him back up to snuff before anything bad can happen.



Alan, Thany and Lance take the fight to the mercenaries, but only Lance is unable to scratch a kill.



Rutger corrects this with a well-timed critical, earning him a kick-ass level up. Luck aside, he's looking quite good this playthrough.



The milk-brothers take out another mercenary together.

I love how sassy Mercenaries tend to be when it comes to criticals.



A lure to the left, a kill to the right.



One of our cavaliers makes a stop here and takes ahold of the north fortress, so that when we head south to the boss we don't have to deal with reinforcements sneaking up behind.



A little more healing wouldn't hurt though.



I made a miscalculation here - instead of taking out the Iron Blade (which would've killed him), I grabbed the sword by mistake and gave him a turn to run free, resulting in Merlinus getting the shock of his life. Good thing Bors is on the job to set him straight.



This is how things stand right now - once we heal ourselves up a bit for the final push, we'll lure the remainder of Dory's forces away, gangstab them, then swarm him and beat him senseless.



First, here's the healing...



Now here's the fighting.

The Bandit manages to miss Lance despite having the advantage, which is pathetic. The Mercenary, meanwhile, takes on Rutger and learns why you never mess with a Myrmidon wielding a Killing Edge.



The bandit takes a shot at Clarine, but misses as expected.



Lance sets up the assist...



And Wolt grabs the kill, earning a decent level up.



Here, have some more tag-team action.



Some more healing, some more fighting...



This whole time Dieck's been slowly making his way to the gate, prompting this finely-dressed villager to open it up for him.

Dory's not amused, of course.



Lance lands a fortuitous critical here, ridding us of the Hand Axe wielder finally.



He could use a little pepping up, honestly.



Huh, not bad. Normally Magic is a rarity for Clarine, since her growths are pretty low in the stat.



Thany moves south and helps Dieck out a bit.



Once she's done, she heads for the other fortress to block off reinforcements there too.



God damn is Dieck ever rocking out this time. At this rate, it's going to be a pain deciding between him and the other mercenary.



Anyway, it's boss-time. Dory's wielding a Killer Axe of his own, and we're going to have to bait him to switch to his Hand Axe in order to engage him with any safety. When you're dealing with bosses like this, it's always safety first.

Lance switches to an Iron Sword for extra protection from axes.



Dory: ...one of my blows! You over there, you wanna try?



Let this be a lesson to you, everyone: you don't need to take a blow if you can dodge it instead.



Rutger tries to critical him right out here, but misses his chance, forcing a rescue on that turn.



Next time, things go much more smoothly.



Dory: No... I don't wanna... die yet.

Life's a bitch, ain't it?



Eh.



Time to wrap this up, I suppose.



Merlinus: Master Roy! Some Priest from the Elimine Church is here looking for you... and Princess Guinevere!

Roy: He knew that Princess Guinevere was with us?

Merlinus: Yes, I wonder how.

Roy: ...I don't know either. Anyway, I'll go talk to him by myself.

Guinevere: Roy, I will be fine. I also wish to meet this priest.

Roy: Princess?

Guinevere: The relationship between my brother and the Elimine church has been becoming bitter lately. I do not believe that the Church would be hostile to us.

Roy: I see. Well then, Merlinus, let the priest past.



Saul: I am Saul, a priest of the Elimine Church.

Roy: Please to meet you.

Saul: And also... Oh! You must be Princess Guinevere! You are so beautiful, as the rumors tell!

Guinevere: ...?

Apparently, Guinevere's never been hit on before?

Saul: Ahem... Your Highness, I wish to know the location of the 'Fire Emblem.' You have it with you, do you not?

Guinevere: !! How did you know that?

Saul: The Head Church in Bern informed us that the Fire Emblem had mysteriously disappeared from the Temple of Seals. They also informed me that you left at exactly the same time.

Guinevere: ......

Saul: I was sent by the Church to confirm the truth. Why did you take the Fire Emblem?

Guinevere: ... I wished to stop my brother.

Saul: Your brother... Zephiel, the king of Bern.

Guinevere: Yes.

Saul: Do you know what the Fire Emblem is used for?

Guinevere: ...The Fire Emblem is a key that awakens the sword that was used to slay the mighty Dragons in the past. Or, that was what my father told me. But I am unsure about how exactly the Fire Emblem or sword work. However, the possibility of the Fire Emblem falling into enemy hands seemed to worry my brothera lot.

Saul: So, you took the Fire Emblem, hoping that to make your brother believe it fell into enemy hands so that he would stop his conquest?

(This line is actually spoken by Guinevere, for some reason. A quirk in translation, perhaps?)

Guinevere: Yes... but war broke out anyway.

Saul: As a representative of the Elimine Church, I wish to ask you this: What do you plan to do from here?

Guinevere: ...Must I answer at this moment?

Saul: Ah, so Your Highness has a plan.

Guinevere: Yes, I have not given up hope of settling this war without bloodshed.

Saul: I see. In that case, please allow me to accompany your journey.

Guinevere: I apologize, Roy.

And with that...



Next time: It's a whole bunch of traps.

I'm not sure I understand Merlinus's escorts at the Unpopular Lunch Table. Can you bring every unit you have onto every map? Is it more advantageous to sideline enough units to box him in rather than having the extras move out and support the offensive?

We don't get access to the preparations screen until next chapter, so we're pretty much forced to bring Lot, Ward and Bors along for the ride, which is a pain since they're not all that good. Mostly I kept them by Merlinus so they'd stay out of the way and let the others get more experience.

Is Saul related to Sain? I'm kidding; there's sadly little connection between Lyn's mercenaries and FE6. Then again, they were created solely for the Americans...

But really. Does he pair up with Clarine by any chance >_>?

You know, that's something I never really thought about before. Does that mean the Japanese FE7 actually didn't have a pair of red and green cavaliers?

Character comments -- Too bad about Hector, but at least he went down fighting two Dragon Lords at once. Dieck and Rutger are looking like sure bets, and here's hoping that Wolt and Thany stick around.

Anyway, this is a rock-solid LP so far, Papillon, for a game I always wanted to play, but wasn't likely to. Thanks!

No. Lyn's Tale was created as an introduction to the series for Americans, but it (and its associated characters) still appear in the Japanese version. This seems to have irritated the Japanese veterans of the series to no end.

And here's proof! Well, that the characters are in the Japanese game, that is.

You have no idea how long I've been waiting to link that.

Are there any good web pages that detail localization changes in the English versions? Like the desperate attempts to tone down the incestuous undertones and whatnot?

It wouldn't be Fire Emblem without the implied incest. Unfortunately.

Serenes Forest has a list of a lot of the changes made from the localization process. Most of them are name changes, but there are a few gameplay switches in there as well.

Yeah, I know I said M-W-F, but this week is the end of the term, and it's so boring. Well, anyway welcome back. Last time we left off, we had just driven off a group of bandits on our way to Ostia when we were confronted by a priest from the Elimine church about the location of the Fire Emblem, revealed to be in the hands of Princess Guinevere.





Roy and company crossed the mountains and entered the Thria lands, located to the southeast of Ostia. Thria is governed by Lord Orun, a half brother to Lord Hector and known for his peaceful and calm personality. Orun’s home castle seemed to be a safe place to stay for Roy. However, Bern had its reach in the lands of Thria as well.

But before we begin…



We now have access to the preparations screen!

Before we begin the chapter, we're given the chance to regroup, giving us time to decide our team and re-equip them as we see fit. We can also take a quick peak at the map as well and alter our formations, and save our preferences as we see fit. Though it's admittedly odd that they would give you it before you know the circumstances surrounding the battle (which is later corrected in the later GBA entries), needless to say we'll be making good use of this screen.



The menus are a little archaic compared to the later games, but it's easy enough to figure out how everything works. The trade menu is a bit tricky due to how redundant a bit of it is, but we'll have to make due nonetheless.



We'll just take care of a few things here, dumping the Angelic Robe and Javelin we've had for a while now into our inventory...



And that'll be it for now. So join us now as we narrowly evade a few...

Chapter 6: Traps





Hey, it's Cath. She won't be joining us for a little while yet...

Cath: Hmm, the room to the north seems to have treasure, but the security is so tight... Are those footsteps?



Soldier: Yes, our soldiers are stationed all around this area.

Wagner: Lead them into the castle and ambush them, just as we did with Lord Orun.

Gasp and alarm!

Soldier: Yes, sir

Wagner: I want Princess Guinevere alive. The rest you can do with as you wish. Now go. Hahahaha... The Silver Wolf's granddaughter and now Princess Guinevere... If we have this much to offer, Bern will be sure to allow us on their side.

Cath: Hmmm... Now this is getting interesting...



Roy: I wonder. That man said he was Lord Orun's advisor...

Merlinus: Wagner? Does he bother you in any way?

Roy: He seemed to be in control of everything, as if he owned the place. And we can't even go near Lord Orun because he's ill? Something seems wrong...

Merlinus: Hmm... come to think of it, you do have a point, Master Roy.

Saul: Excuse me, Master Roy. There seems to be an awful lot of soldiers patrolling the area.



Roy: What? No...

Dorothy: You noticed? Impressive.

Roy: !? Show yourself, intruder!

Cath: Hi!

Hi there, yourself.

Roy: And... who might you be?

Cath: Aw, we can talk about me later. You know, I was overhearing that Wagner guy's conversation in the main hall, and they said they're going to ambush you guys.

Roy: Lord Orun would never do that!

Cath: Oh yeah, that person's dead. That dark magician assassinated him or something.

...S-so casual...

Roy: What!?

Cath: And he's going to capture you guys and turn you into Bern so they can join up with them.

Merlinus: Hold it, Master Roy! Don't trust people like this so easily!

Yeah, a Lycian advisor would never be untrustworthy! Like Eric, for example... oh, wait.

Cath: You can believe me or not, it's up to you. But don't come crying to me when you find yourselves in trouble!

Guinevere: Roy... If what she says is true...

Roy: Let's set a trap. We'll pretend like we're leaving, if Wagner is after us, he'll do something to persuade us to stay.

That's... actually a good plan. Are you sure you take after Eliwood, Roy?

Cath: If you're gonna go outside, use the room in the north! That room leads to the courtyard, so you'll be out of here in no time. Good luck!



Wagner: Oh, Master Roy! Where are you going? We will escourt you into the castle, so please come this way.

Roy: My apologies, sir, but I have just received a report of a matter of importance. Excuse us, but we must be going now.

Wagner: Oh... But I surely cannot see you off without paying my respects and offering you a place to stay! Lord Orun would never forgive me for that! Please, Master Roy, will you not just spend one night here with us?

That's one suspicion confirmed...

Roy: Do not worry, I shall tell Lord Orun myself that you are not to blame. I ought to pay my respects to him, anyway. Please show us to his room.

Wagner: Like I said, Master Roy, Lord Orun is ill and cannot see you.

That's two...

Roy: I am sorry, sir, but if we cannot see him, then we have no reason to stay here. We are in a hurry. Excuse us, but we must be off.

Wagner: You are leaving... No matter what?

Roy: ......

Wagner: Then I have no choice but to kill you now! Everyone! Attack!

And that just about confirms the whole dang thing.

Roy: Damn! So they were after us!

Saul: Master Roy! Even if we escape this way, we'll just be attacked from behind!

Roy: Then we'll take over this castle! Everyone, follow me!



This map is a lot simpler than it looks.

First off, we've got to deal with the enemies patrolling the hallways, who'll rush us right from the start. Lance and Allan will head left and right respectively and head off the soldiers there while everyone else will fan out near the middle and swarm the larger group as it approaches. Once they're dealt with, we'll open up the rooms on both sides and loot the treasure and recruit the character that's in there, then head for Wagner's room and smash his forces, taking the throne for ourselves.

Got all that? Then let's go storm the castle.

Out of the three healers we've got, Saul is easily the best of the bunch. With decent stats all around, Saul's role as healer and, later, light-magic user will do us well over the course of the game. His only real weakness is his low Luck growth, but luck's overrated anyway. Needless to say, he'll have a spot on our team for a long while to come.



His supports are also pretty great, being some of the funniest in the game, though the downside is that they're with pretty poor characters overall. Still



Dorothy, on the other hand, is... well, she's not bad (in fact, she's better than Wolt by a fair margin). She's got good strength and speed, and her luck isn't too bad either. However, we don't really need more than one or two bow users and the milk-brother himself isn't turning out too badly. I'll probably use her for a bit to see if she turns out well, but odds are I'll probably bench her and use Wolt instead since he's already doing fine.



Her supports are pretty okay, at least, so you don't have to worry about that if you do use her. Her support with Saul is really entertaining, and also supports with Clarine well enough.



Anyway, we start fixing up our formations as I mentioned - Lance and Alan head for the hallways while everyone else waits for the rush through the middle.



In one of the rooms, a nomad girl ponders the growing din...



The incoming soldiers begin to swarm around Lance and Alan, eating a face-full of lance in the meanwhile.

During the middle of it, Alan gains a level up. A good one, too.



To be honest, the next few screenshots are pretty much the cavaliers killing soldiers left and right - the other guys don't really start fighting for a few turns yet.



Not to be outdone by his comrade-in-arms, Lance also gets a good level up.



Yep.



There we go now. The mages are the first to meet our team head-on and get cut down and shot down respectively.



Next come the soldiers, one of which falls to Chad and Lugh.

And another level up as well. Things aren't looking too good for Lugh, to be honest.



Rutger, Roy and Alan shred a few more Soldiers with style.



Lance's strength was a little too low to take out one of the soldiers, so he'll have to fall back for now and heal up instead of risking falling to the swarm.



Speaking of which, I should dump a few Heal staves in Saul's possession, shouldn't I?



Healed up, Lance resumes his Soldier-killing.



Chad and Roy come under fire from the two knights approaching. Chad dodges while Roy does not.



Alan's been taking a few big hits over the last while and is looking ripe for healing.



Once Lance and Thany clear out a few more soldiers, of course.

Dorothy, Wolt and Lugh spend a little time softening up one of the soldiers here, since their strength and magic are too low to deal any appreciable damage.



Dieck, on the other hand, is more than strong enough to finish it off.



Roy finishes off the remaining soldier with his Rapier, his impressive development continuing unabated.



And... yeah. That's pretty much it right there. All that's left to kill are the forces in one of the treasure rooms and Wagner's squad himself.



Alan's taken a few blows and gets healed up by Saul.



The remaining soldiers start taking swings at Thany and Roy.



While Wolt and Chad finish them off next turn.

Yech.



Saul and Dorothy take care of a few more things, of course, while Roy heads south to meet up with a familiar face.



It's Cath!

Cath: ...throats now. Suppose I'll take what I can while I can.



The requirements for recruiting Cath are a little arcane - you have to talk with her three times before she'll join, and she won't even turn into an NPC before then so you'll have to be careful not to kill her by accident. She's pretty good though - the best of the three thieves by far - so it's worth the trouble to be sure.



Conversation one, engage.

Cath: Oops...

Roy: Wait!

Cath: Hey, what do you think you're doing? Let go of my arm! Ow! That hurts!

Roy: Oh, I'm sorry. But... What are you doing here?

Cath: Well, um, you know, it's complicated. I have things to do, you see? Hahaha...

Translation: She's looting the castle for everything it's worth.

Roy: Things to do? Here? In a battlefield?

Cath: Dummy, it's because this is a battlefield... ...Whoops, better watch my tongue.

Roy: Do you have some motive that we're unaware of?

Roy's pretty thick, here.

Cath: Ulp.

Roy: Wait, is that why you told us the escape route...?

Cath: Um, what? I have no idea what you're talking about!

Roy: Who are you..?

Cath: Now, now, don't worry about such trivial things! Oh, I gotta go. Bye!

Roy: Hey, wait!



As mentioned, Cath will remain an enemy until we eventually recruit her, but to her credit she's pacifistic and won't actively engage any of our units. She will, however, start to loot the treasure in the castle, so we'll block off the hallways with our units and force her through the middle so she'll flee.



In any case, with the majority of Wagner's forces gone you can take whatever time you need to prepare your troops and collect treasure.



The first treasure room on the right contains a Silver Lance and 2000 gold. The money goes directly into our purse while the Silver Lance will probably go to Merlinus.

One of the units by Wagner's room, a soldier, takes Thany's bait and falls to her lance. Thany also levels up and it's still quite good despite the lack of strength.



Chad continues his looting, of course, this time grabbing us an always-useful Killer Axe.



The mage here is completely passive, so luring him in won't work - Thany will have to fly in and Javelin him to death at close-range.



A Goddess Icon (raises Luck) and Short Bow enter our inventory this time, the former going to Merlinus when Chad's stock grows full.



Roy starts his way up the west hall, for reasons you'll see later...



Thany, meanwhile, tangos with the mage from before, killing him and raising her weapon rank.



One of the other mages from before rushes her, and she tries to deal with it defensively. She misses her second shot however, forcing a heal on her next turn.

Like so.



Her strength growth is slowing noticeably enough. She's still got a fair bit of ways to fall yet, and odds are she'll beat out the next Pegasus Knight anyway.



Chad and Roy convene by the upper-left room here. Chad then unlocks the door here...



...So that Roy can recruit the unit inside.

Roy: What? What's a girl doing here?

Sue: ?... You aren't a person from the castle?

Roy: Who are you? Oh, my name is Roy.

Sue: I am Sue. Are you causing the noise outside?

Roy: Noise?

Sue: The noise of a battle.

That was probably Alan then, since he was the one busy slaughtering soldiers on this side of the castle.

Roy: Oh yes. We're fighting the denizens of the castle. It's a long story...

Sue: I see. Then I am on your side.

Roy: ?

Sue: The castle's residents are my enemies as well.

Roy: What? What do you mean...

Sue: Please give me a bow. I will fight alongside you.



And with that we've got a new recruit.



Sue here is the first of the two nomads we'll be getting over the course of the game, and though she's easily the weaker of the two, she's still quite good in her own right. Her greatest strength is that she's one of the faster units in the game with a whopping 60% growth in that stat, and odds are she'll probably max that stat at some point. She also has good luck, and her status as a nomad gives her some of the best mobility out of the other classes. However, the problem is that her strength's low, only 30%, and we'll have to keep an eye on it to see if we'll use her or not.



Her supports are a mixed bag. She's one of Roy's potential suitors, and can also support with Wolt, the other nomad, a prepromote we probably won't get and the game's resident gamebreaker unit. None of them are particularly interesting and aren't helpful tactically, so you can take it or leave it.

Her father, Rath, takes a more active role in the game's sequel, Blazing Sword, as you may recall. Here, though, he doesn't even get a single mention, which is... odd, to say the least. I guess he wasn't that good of a father?

Anyway, Thany starts taking out the other mage with her Javelin.



To prepare for the final rush, Saul hauls ass and heals up the rest of the team.



Chad opens up the next treasure room with his trusty lockpick.



Sue grabs the Short Bow from before so she can join in on the fun and leave some more space for Chad to loot.



Saul heals up Lugh, generating a pretty eh-worthy level up.



Chad's a fair bit behind, so Sue and Thany play piggy-back and help him catch up.



A little more healing from Saul before we begin...



And now we're set to grab the last treasure and take out Wagner.

There are a few enemies inside the room, so we send our forces in one-by-one to take them out. Here, Roy and Lugh off a particularly sturdy knight.



Next goes the soldier, who falls to Rutger's Killing Edge.



I tried to find a bow here for Sue to use to kill the mage, but none of them were able to generate the strength she needed to kill him.



Resulting in him getting a turn to run lose. Grr.



Chad gets in a few good hits here.



And Lugh finishes him off next.



Saul commences his usual healing...



Okay, the knights here are actually immobile for the most part, but they're both equipped with Javelins. On their own they're not a big threat, but we'll have to defeat them if we want to defeat Wagner with any speed or safety.



There's an Unlock staff in this chest, in case you were wondering.

I let Lugh take the kill since he was nearing a level up, but he continues to disappoint. As it is, I'm on the verge of giving up on him.



Yep.



At some point during his healing, Saul gains another level up. It's pretty terrible, to be honest.



Wolt and Lugh take out another knight...



And Roy engages the boss.

Wagner: Well then, I have no choice. Witness my magic... And bow down to its power!



Wagner's pretty tough - as innacurate as he is, he can dodge a majority of the time and dish out a lot of hurt if he connects. He's pretty slow so he won't double, but you have to watch out just in case.



A few more turns of whiffing as Wagner knocks our team down one-by-one...

...And it's time to bring out the big guns.



Sure it was.



Onwards and upwards, I guess.



Sue: Grandpa is the strongest warrior in Sacae. People call him the 'Silver Wolf.'

Roy: The Silver Wolf... I have heard of him. But what are you doing in Lycia? Sacae is to the east.

Sue: Bern invaded Sacae, so we of the Kutolah clan have decided to fight. So grandpa let the women and children escape to Lycia, but...

Roy: But?

Sue: There was a traitor. The Djute clan, who have turned to Bern's side, ambushed us.

Roy: ......

Sue: We were all separated. I found my way into these lands and I was rescued by Lord Orun. But his advisor Wagner assassinated Lord Orun and took over the castle.

Roy: And then you were captured.

Sue: Is your army fighting Bern?

Roy: Yes, Bern has invaded our lands as well.

Sue: Then let me go with you. Fighting Bern will let me rescue grandpa.

Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Sue - we're not even sure if we're taking that route yet.

Roy: We're headed for Ostia. It's in the opposite direction as Sacae, but is this okay with you?

Sue: I don't mind. No matter where we are, neither our Mother the Earth or our Father the Sky will ever disappear.



Merlinus: The spy I send to Ostia has just returned, and he says that Ostia is in a state of chaos!

Roy: What!?

Merlinus: There's been a rebellion among those who want to surrender to Bern.

Roy: Is Lilina safe?

Merlinus: The spy says that she has been taken as a hostage. Currently, the rebel group has taken over Castle Ostia and are fighting the soldiers who wish to retake the castle and Lady Lilina.

Roy: We must hurry to Ostia! Lilina, please be safe!

So... that's a wrap, then?



Next time: Quit dragon your feet.

Cath is awesome. "Oh yeah, he's dead - you didn't hear about that? Oh well, now you know! ^_^"
Dorothy has a weird face. Not a fan of her.
Thany's going to max out speed in no time, isn't she? @_@
Sue: Yay archer nomad girl! I shall call you mini-Lyn.

Unlike the previous Fire Emblem LP, I now know what we're looking for in stats and damn some of those guys are turning out lousy! Roy will be emperor of the world at this rate but some of those dudes will end up level 20 stablehands if you let them.

This isn't a coincidence, either. The PC cast of FE6 is weaker (by leaps and bounds) than the PCs of any FE game since. There are very few units who are slam dunks, the prepromotes as a whole are virtually useless, and Roy, one of the better characters, doesn't promote until near the very end, so once he reaches level 20 you basically have to keep him out of the fray for a long time.

Fortunately Reel's still got a bunch of the better characters still on tap.